Crosstalk between 6-methyladenine and 4-methylcytosine in Geobacter sulfurreducens exposed to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field

• Published in: iScience 2024-09, Vol.27 (9), p.110607, Article 110607
• Main Authors: Shi, Zhenhua, Zhang, Yingrong, Chen, Wanqiu, Yu, Zhen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electromagnetic field; Epigenetics; Exposure; Microbial genomics; Molecular microbiology
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110607

4-Methylcytosine (4mC) and 6-methyladenine (6mA) are the most prevalent types of DNA modifications in prokaryotes. However, whether there is crosstalk between 4mC and 6mA remain unknown. Here, methylomes and transcriptomes of Geobacter sulfurreducens exposed to different intensities of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) were investigated. Results showed that the second adenine of all the 5′-GTACAG-3′ motif was modified to 6mA (M-6mA). For the other 6mA (O-6mA), the variation in their distance from the neighboring M-6mA increased with the intensity of ELF-EMF. Moreover, cytosine adjacent to O-6mA has a much higher probability of being modified to 4mC than cytosine adjacent to M-6mA, and the closer an unmodified cytosine is to 4mC, the higher the probability that the cytosine will be modified to 4mC. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression regulation. These results suggest a reference signal that goes from M-6mA to O-6mA to 4mC. [Display omitted] •4mC modification pattern follows the law of a power function•DNA methylation modification pattern is established at the genome-wide level•4mC and 6mA have crosstalk during DNA methylation•Both level and pattern of DNA methylation not serve for gene expression regulation Exposure; Electromagnetic field; Epigenetics; Microbial genomics; Molecular microbiology